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MEMORIAL  EXHIBITION  OF 
PAINTINGS  BY 
JOHN  WHITE  ALEXANDER 


CITY  ART  MUSEUM 
SAINT  LOUIS 


. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/memorialexhibitiOOalex 


SPECIAL 

EXHIBITION  CATALOGUE 
CITY  ART  MUSEUM 
SAINT  LOUIS 


MEMORIAL  EXHIBITION  OF 
PAINTINGS  BY 
JOHN  WHITE  ALEXANDER 


OPENING  APRIL  8,  1917 
SERIES  1917  NO.  4 


Copyright  by  the  Detroit  Publishing  Co. 


PORTRAIT  OF  MRS.  JOHN  W.  ALEXANDER 


The  City  Art  Museum  gratefully  acknowledges  the 
co-operation  of  the  owners  who  have  made  this  'exhi- 
bition possible  by  generously  lending  their  pictures. 
Among  those  who  have  thus  assisted  in  the  formation 
of  the  exhibition  are  Mrs.  John  IV.  Alexander ; Mr. 
James  W.  Alexander ; the  Metropolitan  Museum  of 
Art ; the  Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts;  Miss  Mary  C. 
Wheeler;  Wheaton  College ; John  W.  Beatty,  Esq.; 
the  Quadrangle  Club  of  Princeton,  N.  J .;  Julius  Rols- 
hoven.  Esq.;  Miss  Elizabeth  Averell,  and  Airs.  A.  G. 
Hoffman. 


Copyright  by  the  Detroit  Publishing  Co. 


ISABELLA  OR  THE  POT  OF  BASIL 


John  White  Alexander 


John  White  Alexander  was  born  in  Allegheny, 
Pennsylvania,  October  7,  1856.  His  parents  died 
when  he  was  quite  young,  and  he  lived  first  with  his 
grandfather  and  later  with  Colonel  Edward  J.  Allen, 
who  became  his  guardian. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen,  Alexander  went  to  New 
York  City  to  take  up  the  study  of  art.  Here  he  was 
given  employment  as  an  office  boy  by  the  firm  of  Harper 
& Brothers,  who  were  to  aid  the  struggling  young 
artist  in  many  ways  in  succeeding  years.  After  a time 
he  was  given  a position  in  the  illustrating  department, 
of  which  Mr.  Charles  Parsons  was  then  the  head. 
Woodcuts  were  at  that  time  the  principal  means  of 
illustration,  and  Alexander’s  first  work  consisted  in 
drawing,  directly  upon  the  wooden  block,  the  figures 
for  such  illustrations,  the  balance  of  the  picture  being 
usually  put  in  by  other  artists.  Reference  to  the  files 
of  Harper’s  Weekly  for  the  years  of  1875  to  1877 
reveals  an  occasional  signed  cartoon  or  drawing  by 
Alexander. 

He  served  an  apprenticeship  of  three  years  with 
Harper  & Brothers,  and  then,  in  1877,  having  accu- 
mulated the  sum  of  $300,  he  set  sail  for  Europe,  in 
company  with  a friend,  Albert  G.  Reinhart.  Finding 
the  “Ecole  des  Beaux  Arts”  in  Paris,  where  they  had 
expected  to  study,  closed  for  repairs,  the  two  friends 
proceeded  to  Munich,  where  Alexander  entered  the 
class  of  Prof.  Benzcur.  Becoming  dissatisfied  after  a 
short  stay  in  Munich,  he  went  to  Polling,  in  Northern 
Bavaria,  where  at  that  time  there  was  a small  colony 
of  American  artists.  In  this  city  Alexander  first  began 
to  paint,  and  from  this  city,  also,  he  sent  to  the  students’ 
exhibition  in  the  Munich  Academy  the  drawings  for 
which  he  was  awarded  his  first  medal. 

About  1880  he  joined  a class  of  art  students  under 
Frank  Duveneck,  and  spent  the  next  two  years  in  Italy, 
working  in  Florence  during  the  winter  and  in  Venice 


during  the  summer.  It  was  in  the  latter  city  that  a 
chance  meeting  began  the  lifelong  friendship  between 
himself  and  James  McNeill  Whistler.  During  all  this 
time  Alexander  supported  himself  by  sending  drawings 
back  to  Harper’s.  Later  he  started  an  art  class  in 
Florence,  but  finding  that  this  seriously  interfered  with 
his  own  work,  he  determined  to  return  to  America. 

With  the  exception  of  two  summers  abroad,  the 
remaining  years  until  1890  were  spent  in  Pittsburgh 
and  New  York.  During  one  of  these  trips  abroad, 
Alexander  met  Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  then  living  at 
Skerryvore,  England,  and  executed  a portrait  of  him. 
The  friendship  of  these  two  distinguished  men  calls 
sharply  to  mind  the  tragic  similarity  of  their  lives. 

In  1887  the  artist  married  Elizabeth  Alexander,  and 
three  years  later,  on  account  of  his  ill  health,  he  and 
Mrs.  Alexander  went  to  Paris,  where  they  remained 
for  eleven  years.  During  this  period,  Alexander’s 
reputation  was  established,  and  his  works  were  received 
everywhere  with  honored  recognition.  In  1893  he 
exhibited  at  the  Societe  Nationale  des  Beaux  Arts  in 
Paris  a group  of  three  portraits  entitled  “Portrait 
Gris,”  “Portrait  Noir”  and  “Portrait  Jaune.”  These 
pictures  were  given  a place  of  honor  in  the  Salon,  and 
the  young  artist  was  elected  an  associate  of  the 
Societe.  In  the  following  year  he  was  elected  to  full 
membership. 

After  these  distinguished  honors,  recognition  from 
other  cities  came  swiftly,  and  his  works  were  invited 
to  all  the  important  exhibitions  of  Europe  and  America. 
Numerous  medals  and  awards  were  received,  and  his 
paintings  were  placed  in  the  museums  of  Paris,  Odessa, 
St.  Petersburg,  Vienna,  New  York,  Chicago,  St.  Louis, 
Philadelphia,  Washington,  Pittsburgh,  Cincinnati,  Min- 
neapolis, Providence  and  other  cities. 

In  1901  Alexander  returned,  with  his  family,  to 
New  York,  where  he  lived  until  his  death,  on  the 
31st  of  May,  1915.  These  years  were  for  Alexander 
a period  of  continued  and  unceasing  activity,  notwith- 
standing his  failing  health.  He  was  associated,  either 


as  a member  or  officer,  with  twenty  art  organizations, 
the  most  important  of  which  was,  perhaps,  the  National 
Academy  of  Design,  of  which  he  was  president.  In 
this  capacity,  he  labored  for  years,  in  spite  of  continued 
failure,  to  secure  an  adequate  home  for  the  Academy. 
As  president  of  the  National  Academy,  he  was  an  ex- 
officio  trustee  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum,  a position 
to  which  he  devoted  much  time  and  energy.  Yet  he 
continued  to  paint,  to  design  scenery  and  costumes  for 
tableaux  and  to  engage  himself  in  numerous  other 
activities  in  behalf  of  art. 

He  was  also  President  of  the  National  Society  of 
Mural  Painters,  New  York;  Societaire  of  the  Societe 
Nationale  des  Beaux  Arts,  Paris;  Member  of  the  Inter- 
national Society  of  Sculptors,  Painters  and  Gravers, 
London;  Societe  Nouvelle,  Paris;  Societaire  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Fine  Arts,  Brussels ; President  of  the 
National  Academy  Association;  Ex-President  of  the 
National  Institute  of  Arts  and  Letters;  Vice-President 
of  the  National  Fine  Arts  Federation,  Washington, 
D.  C. ; Member  of  the  Architectural  League,  Fine  Arts 
Federation  and  Fine  Arts  Society,  New  York;  Honor- 
ary Member  of  the  Secession  Society,  Munich,  and  of 
the  Secession  Society,  Vienna ; Honorary  Member  of 
the  Royal  Society  of  British  Artists,  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Architects  and  of  the  New  York  Society 
of  Illustrators;  President  of  the  School  Art  League, 
New  York;  Trustee  of  the  New  York  Public  Library; 
Ex-President  of  the  MacDowell  Club,  New  York; 
Trustee  of  the  American  Academy  in  Rome;  Chevalier 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  France;  Honorary  Degree  of 
Master  of  Arts,  Princeton,  University,  1892,  and  Doc- 
tor of  Literature,  Princeton,  1909. 

The  art  of  Alexander  reveals  something  of  the  innate 
charm  and  sensitiveness  of  the  man.  Though  usually 
worked  out  in  subdued  tonalities,  the  strength  and 
power  of  his  paintings  is  unmistakable.  They  show  the 
rare  decorative  sense  of  the  artists,  his  feeling  for  the 
grace  of  line  and  pattern  and  his  choice  of  consistent, 
satisfying  color  schemes. 


His  portraits  are  strong  personal  likenesses,  exhibit- 
ing the  significant  characteristics  of  the  sitter.  Among 
the  prominent  men  and  women  in  various  fields  of 
endeavor  whose  portraits  Alexander  painted  were 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Joseph  Jefferson,  John  Bur- 
roughs, Maude  Adams,  Alphonse  Daudet,  Robert 
Louis  Stevenson,  James  A.  McNeill  Whistler,  Grover 
Cleveland,  Fritz  Thaulow,  Auguste  Rodin  and  Thur- 
low  Weed. 

Some  of  Alexander’s  best  known  works  are  as  fol- 
lows: “Woman  in  Gray,”  Luxembourg,  Paris;  “Study 
in  Black  and  Green,”  “Portrait  of  Walt  Whitman” 
and  “The  Ring,”  Metropolitan  Museum,  New  York; 
“Pot  of  Basil,”  Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts;  “Phyl- 
lis,” City  Art  Museum,  St.  Louis;  “The  Blue  Bowl,” 
Rhode  Island  School  of  Design,  Providence;  “Fritz 
Thaulow,”  Wilstach  Gallery,  Philadelphia;  “The 
Quiet  Hour,”  Pennsylvania  Academy  of  the  Fine 
Arts,  Philadelphia;  “Portrait  of  Rodin,”  Cincinnati 
Museum;  “Girl  in  Pink,”  Carnegie  Institute,  Pitts- 
burgh; “Sunlight,”  Art  Institute  of  Chicago;  “Dr. 
Holmes,”  Harvard  University,  Cambridge;  portraits 
of  Dr.  McCosh  and  Mrs.  McCosh  and  Dr.  Patton, 
Princeton  University;  Dr.  Chandler  and  Dr.  Van 
Amringe,  Columbia  University,  New  York;  Mrs. 
Wheaton,  Wheaton  College,  Norton,  Mass.;  Mrs. 
Whitman,  Radcliffe  College,  Cambridge;  Mrs.  Wooley, 
Mount  Holyoke  (Mass.)  College;  Dr.  Hyde,  Bow- 
doin  College,  Brunswick,  Me.;  “A  Worker,”  National 
Gallery,  Washington;  “A  Ray  of  Sunlight,”  Society 
of  Fine  Arts,  Minneapolis.  Mural  paintings:  “Evolu- 
tion of  the  Book,”  six  lunettes,  Library  of  Congress, 
Washington;  “Evolution  of  the  State,”  fourteen 
lunettes,  Capitol,  Harrisburg,  Pa. ; “Apotheosis  of 
Pittsburgh,”  “Fire,”  “Crowning  of  Labor,”  seventy-five 
panels,  Carnegie  Institute,  Pittsburgh. 

The  awards  received  by  the  artist  include  a Bronze 
Medal,  Munich  Royal  Academy;  Temple  Gold  Medal, 
Pennsylvania  Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts,  1897 ; Lippin- 
cott  Prize,  Pennsylvania  Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts, 


1899;  Gold  Medal,  Exposition  Universelle,  Paris, 
1900;  Carnegie  Prize,  Society  of  American  Artists, 
1901  ; Gold  Medal,  Pan-American  Exposition,  Buffalo, 
1901 ; Gold  Medal  of  Honor,  Pennsylvania  Academy 
of  the  Fine  Arts,  1903;  Corcoran  Prize,  Washington, 
D.  C.,  1903;  Gold  Medal,  World’s  Fair,  St.  Louis, 
1904;  Medal  of  the  first  class,  Carnegie  Institute,  Pitts- 
burgh, 1 9 1 1 ; Medal  of  Honor,  Panama-Pacific  Inter- 
national Exposition,  San  Francisco,  1915. 


J.  B.  M. 


Copyright  by  the  Detroit  Publishing  Co. 


PORTRAIT  OF  WALT  WHITMAN 


Catalogue 


1 Portrait  of  Walt  Whitman 

Lent  by  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  New  York 

2 “Isabella  or  the  Pot  of  Basil” 

Lent  by  the  Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts 

3 Portrait  of  Miss  Mary  C.  Wheeler 

Lent  by  Miss  Wheeler,  Providence,  R.  I. 

4 Portrait  of  Mrs.  Wheaton 

Lent  by  Wheaton  College,  Norton,  Mass. 

5 Portrait  of  Helen  Beatty 

Lent  by  John  W.  Beatty,  Esq. 

6 Study  Head  of  a Munich  Peasant 

Lent  by  Julius  Rolshoven,  Esq. 

7 Sketch  of  Booth  Tarkington 

Lent  by  Quadrangle  Club,  Princeton,  N.  J. 

8 Landscape  (Cornish,  N.  H.) 

Lent  by  Estate  of  John  W.  Alexander 

9 Marine  (Moonlight) 

Lent  by  Mrs.  John  W.  Alexander 

10  The  Tenth  Muse 

Lent  by  Mr.  James  W.  Alexander 

1 1 On  a Balcony 

Lent  by  Mr.  James  W.  Alexander 

12  The  Gossip 

Lent  by  Estate  of  John  W.  Alexander 


Copyright  by  the  Detroit  Publishing  Co. 

PORTRAIT  OF  MRS.  WHEATON 


13 

14 

15 

i6 

1 7 

18 

i9 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 


Landscape 

Lent  by  Estate  of  John  W.  Alexander 

Joseph  Jefferson  as  Bob  Acres 

Lent  by  Estate  of  John  W.  Alexander 

Peonies 

Lent  by  Mrs.  John  W.  Alexander 

Memories 

Lent  by  Mrs.  John  W.  Alexander 

Juliette 

Lent  by  Estate  of  John  W.  Alexander 

The  Black  Cat 

Lent  by  Mrs.  John  W.  Alexander 

Old  Cole 

Lent  by  Estate  of  John  W.  Alexander 

The  Glass  Bowl 

Lent  by  Estate  of  John  W.  Alexander 

The  Blue  Bowl 

Lent  by  Estate  of  John  W.  Alexander 

The  Green  Gown 

Lent  by  Estate  of  John  W.  Alexander 

A Rose 

Lent  by  Estate  of  John  W.  Alexander 

Reflections 

Lent  by  Estate  of  John  W.  Alexander 


25  White  Birches 

Lent  by  Miss  Elizabeth  Averell 

26  In  the  Orchard 

Lent  by  Mrs.  John  W.  Alexander 

27  Flowers 

Lent  by  Estate  of  John  W.  Alexander 

28  Landscape 

Lent  by  Estate  of  John  W.  Alexander 

29  Birches  (Cornish,  N.  H.) 

Lent  by  Mrs.  A.  G.  Hoffman 

30  Phyllis 

Property  of  the  City  Art  Museum 


I 


